OverviewIn the early years of the AIDS epidemic, a diagnosis of the disease was essentially a death sentence. Activists including those who founded ACT-UP and TAG fought against the indifference and discrimination of politicians who chose to ignore the problem. Even with no medical or scientific training, the activists helped pave the way to discoveries that helped turn AIDS into the chronic disease that we know today. Instead of being a death sentence, AIDS in America and in other areas of the world is now manageable thanks to the efforts of the pioneers who worked to change the status quo.